Hello, Akatsuki Friends!
by SaltWaterRain
Summary: Sakura hears a bump in the night wile home alone... She has some unexpected visitors! Begining of a Sakura/Akatsuki series!
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, Akatsuki Friends!**

**Chapter 1**

Sakura rose from the kitchen table and tossed her empty dishes in the sink, wincing at the loud clatter that followed. Cringing, she peered into the sink and moaned upon seeing one of her mothers fine china bowls laying in several large pieces at the bottom of the sink. _Crap!_ Lazily throwing her dishes into the kitchen sink was one of Sakura's worst habits, but usually wasn't a problem because she always used plastic dishes. However Sakura was never one to like chores, and that included hating to do the dishes. Her parents have been on vacation and Sakura had procrastinated doing the dishes to the point were the only clean thing left to eat on in the house was her mothers fine china. _Damn it, that was stupid! _She cursed wile removing the pieces of bowl from the sink. _Moms gonna kill me or worse, ground me! _Sure that probably sounded pretty lame coming form a kunoichi, but come on, she's still a 16 year old girl! Freedom is one of the most important things to her! And she's a ninja for crying out loud! She needs to spend her time training so she can bring Sasuke back! She sighed a little and chastised herself for thinking about him. _He doesn't even have any thing to do with this bowl!_ She had promised her self a wile ago she would not let the fact that he left depress her and so she would stop thinking about him.

After collecting all the pieces from the sink Sakura set them on the table and went searching for glue. _Maybe I can stick it together again and she'll never notice. _She forced open her family's junk dour which was so crammed with random crap it hardly even opened or closed. After digging through it for a wile Sakura pulled out a glue stick. _Maybe this will work…_ She trudged back to the table strewn with pieces of broken china and set about a futile attempt to fix her mothers precious bowl.

About 30 minutes later Sakura gave up. _It's way to late for this._ She yawned glancing at the pitch black sky out side her window. It had to be close to 10:00pm. Okay, it wasn't really late, but Sakura puts herself through hell every day by training with Tsunade-sama and has gotten into the habit of treasuring any amount of rest she can get. She stood up from the table and stumbled tiredly down the hall and into her bedroom. Her parents wouldn't be home for a few days still so she wasn't worried about the sticky mess she'd left on the table. Normally Sakura was neat. She kept her room and her house clean and always did her chores without being asked. But within the last couple of years after Sasuke left she spent less of her time being a house made and more of her time being a kunoichi. She had to become a better medical ninja so she could help her team find Sasuke. She has been undergoing extensive training for two years and has become an excellent medical ninja, and has even learned a good fighting style so that she can fight when necessary. After her fight with Sasori of the Red Sand Sakura's medical abilities and strength had become fairly well known. Maybe Sasuke would hear of her accomplishment and come back just too compliment her… then he would ask for her hand in marriage wile begging for her to forgive him. Sakura once again scolded herself for thinking about Sasuke before changing into her ivory flannel pajamas and throwing herself into bed. She was asleep within minutes, her dreams filled with fantasies of Sasuke.

Sakura woke with a start, nearly falling out of bed. _What was that noise? Did I just dream that? _She had woken upon hearing a loud crashing sound like dishes clattering and breaking. _Maybe I was just having a nightmare about that bowl. _She thought feeling kind of dumb. She was just about to lay back down when another loud clatter broke the silence of her house.

"Damn it, Tobi! Can't you look were your going? She's gonna here us, yeah!" Scolded an angry voice that sounded as if it was coming from the kitchen.

_Well, that would explain the crashing noise. _Sakura thought, thinking of her lack of house cleaning.

"Tobi's sorry Deidara-sempai! But some one left piles of dishes all over the floor! Tobi didn't see them! Tobi's s-"

"Whatever! Shut up! She's gonna here us, yeah!"

Sakura had defiantly heard them. _Who are these people? They sound like a couple of idiots! _Idiots or not, they were in her house trying to be sneaky. _They better not be trying to steal something! _Sakura quietly slid out of bed and grabbed a kunai off her night stand. She kept her chakra level low so the burglars would think she was still sleeping and crept to her bedroom door. _These guys probably aren't even ninja. What kind of ninja would trip over something on the floor anyway? _She was just about to grab the knob of her bedroom door when she saw the it start to turn. Knowing whoever had broken into her house was just on the other side of the door, Sakura grabbed the door knob and yanked the door open.

The man on the other side of the door jumped back and yelled throwing his hands up in the air. It was too dark to see properly but he appeared to have on some kind of mask. Just then a yellow blur flew around down the hall and leapt on the still yelling masked man, knocking him over and pinning him to the ground.

"Shut up! Be quiet you dumbass! The whole neighborhood is going tho hear us, yeah!" Shouted the man on top of the masked one.

Sakura flipped on the light switch to her room, lighting up the rather ridiculous scene on the floor near her door. The man on the bottom was laying belly down and was sprawled out like a starfish. He had semi-short spiky black hair and was wearing an orange mask that reminded her of a snail. The orange mask was swirled and had only one eye hole. The man on top, or at least he sounded like a man, had long blond hair in a half pony tail with his bangs hanging out covering the left of his slanted blue eyes. They were dressed in black cloaks covered in red clouds. _Wait a minute, black cloak with red clouds? _Sakura sweat dropped. _These loosers are part of Akatsuki?_

The blond man stood up releasing the masked one. Sakura tensed, recognizing the blond man. _He was partners with Sasori of the Red Sand! These guys are no joke! _Sakura thought, remembering the state Kakashi-sensei was in after dealing with the blond man.

"Put your weapon down pinky, were not going to hurt you, yeah." Insisted the blond man, sounding rather annoyed. "I'm Deidara and this is Tobi, were from Akatsuki, yeah."

"Hello, Sakura-chan ~ 3!" Greeted Tobi, who was still lying on the floor.

"Get up you idiot, yeah!" Shouted Deidara, kicking Tobi in the ribs.

"Ow, ow, ow! Deidara-sempai!" Cried Tobi, jumping upright.

"Don't call me that, yeah!" Deidara insisted, whapping Tobi upside the head.

Sakura stood there watching the two men. _These guys are Akatsuki? Maybe Akatsuki isn't really what I thought it was… _Then she remembered Sasori of the Red Sand and how Kisame and Itachi were also part of Akatsuki. _These guys must just be misfits or some thing. _

"What do you guys want?" Demanded Sakura, ignoring Deidara's request of putting down her kunai.

"Tobi and Deidara are here to take you to Akatsuki, Sakura-chan!" Said Tobi, clearly excited.

"Leader-sama knows about you medic ninja abilities, yeah." Deidara specified. "Akatsuki needs a medic. Kakuzu can stitch people up, but that's about it, he's no doctor. Zetsu knows about plants and stuff, so he's pretty good when someone catches a cold, but we need someone to heal us when we come back from a mission half dead, yeah."

"What the hell makes you guys think I'm going to come willingly?" Demanded Sakura. She was known for her outbursts of anger, which were probably magnified now due to having been woken up in the middle of the night. She was still to tired and groggy. She understood she was in a crappy situation, but her thinking was still slow. Slow, but not slow enough to keep her from being prepared. She _had_ been labeled as one of the best thinkers in her academy, hadn't she? She readied a chakra laden fist. _If I can take one of these guys down… Konoha could use them for interrogation! Wait! damn it! What am I thinking? I'm in deep shit! I can't hold my own against these guys! There Akatsuki! There S-ranked criminals! _

"Well, we were hoping you'd just be attracted to our offer, yeah." Replied Deidara. "But, I guess your pretty loyal to Konoha." The blond smirked. "Don't think were not gonna use force if it comes down to it. Akatsuki needs you, yeah."

Sakura just glared at him, attempting to hold up her defiant front.

"Akatsuki has gone and made unwilling members before, Sakura-chan!" Tobi chimed in, seemingly unaware of how terrible that comment was.

Deidara must have noticed the unintended repulsiveness of the Tobi's comment because he turned around and delivered the masked man a harsh jab in the ribs.

"Gack!" Tobi choked due to the obviously unexpected attack from his team mate. "Ow! Tobi's a good boy!"

"No," Corrected Deidara, "Tobi's an idiot, yeah!"

With that Sakura lunged at Deidara, taking advantage of his distraction by aiming a chakra induced punch at his face. Deidara noticed just in time to dodge the punch. The maneuver was sloppy, however, and his attempt at a counter attack was an absolute fail. As he dodged Sakura's blow her fist whizzed by his head by mere millimeters. He dug one hand into his bag of clay wile trying to grab her flying wrist with the other. He missed her wrist. His hand brushed her wrist but instead of taking hold, his palm, lips and all, grazed from her wrist up her arm and off her shoulder. Sakura instantly jumped back and let out a screech.

"What the hell was that?" Shouted Sakura, her voice high and her face flushed.

"Wha…?" Was all Deidara could manage. Blush spreading across his face as well.

"You freaking _LICKED _me!" Sakura practically screamed rubbing her offended arm vigorously in attempt to remove the Akatsuki fag cooties.

"I did not! You just rubbed your arm along my tongue, yeah!" Deidara screeched, his voice growing high as well.

"_Tongues_!" Sakura freaked. "How many freaking tongues do you even have?"

"That's none of your damned business, yeah!"

"Why the frigging hell do you even have mouths on your hands?"

"I was born with them, yeah!"

"What are they even for, personal enjoyment?"

"What the HELL are you implying? I use them for my art, yeah!"

"Tobi thinks were getting distracted." Tobi cut in.

Sakura whipped around to face Tobi. "Well, _Sakura _thinks_-_"

Sakura's comment was cut off by the ringing of her door bell. All three of the disturbed maniacs in the Haruno house grew quiet instantly. _The neighbors! They can help me! They'll tell some one Akatsuki is in Konoha!_

"Haruno! What the hell is going on? It's 2:00 in the freaking morning! I have to work tomorrow! What do you think your doing?" Yelled an angry voice through the front door of the Haruno house.

Sakura was just about to yell for help when a gloved hand clamped over her mouth. All Sakura could get out was a muffled "Mpth!" before Tobi had grabbed her from behind.

"Now, now, Sakura-chan!" Giggled Tobi quietly. "You can't rat Tobi and Deidara-sempai out!"

"Hey, Haruno! Can you hear me? Is every thing alright?" The voice from behind the door shouted again. Sakura futilely struggled against Tobi's grip.

Suddenly Deidara gave a small cough, then raised his voice to a high feminine pitch and called out to the neighbor who was on the other side of the door. "Yes, every thing is quite alright thank you for your concern. Sorry to wake you, yeah."

"I heard other voices, weren't your parents supposed to be gone?" Questioned the neighbor, apparently oblivious to the lack of skill in Deidara's completely transvestite technique.

"I was just listening to the TV _REALLY _loud. Sorry! I guarantee I'm by my self and completely alright, yeah!" Replied Deidara in his tacky impression of a female voice.

"All right then, good night! And next time consider your neighbors!" Yelled the neighbor through the door, voice fading as he left.

"Wow, Deidara-sempai! Tobi is impressed! He didn't know you could make such a cute girl!" Cheered Tobi, wiggling behind Sakura, letting his hand drop from her mouth.

"Maybe he's just gay." Commented Sakura. Pissed that her chance at rescue was gone.

"What did you say, bubble gum head, yeah?" Growled Deidara angrily.

"I said you're a fag, barbie doll!" Sakura sneered back. She was tired, angry, and was becoming unreasonable. _I just need to hold my own against these guys for a bit. Some one will help me if I make a big enough ruckus. I need to make noise!_

Sakura was just about to scream when Deidara lunged at her. She probably would have been able to dodge if it weren't for Tobi still holding on to her. So instead, a syringe sunk deep into her side. Deidara leapt back with a smirk. Sakura had a good idea of what was in the syringe when she started to feel dizzy almost immediately. _Stupid! You don't call an S-ranked criminal GAY! _That was the last thought that went through her head as her vision faded to black and she felt herself go limp against Tobi behind her.

**To be continued...**


	2. Chapter 2

**I really want to thank** **Yuti-Chan for my first ever review! It was so cool to come home, hit the computer, and find out some besides my sister actually likes my stories! It's hard to spend alot of time writing with my home work load, but I promise I'll spend 3/4 of my free time writing! (I need to spend the remaining 1/4 eating.) Now that I know there are people out there reading my stories I hope to get them done alot faster, because no on likes to wait! Thank you so much, even if you don't review! Oh, and plaese tell me what you don't like about my story so I can fix it.**

**Hello, Akatsuki Friends!**

**Chapter 2**

Sakura blinked open her eyes. She found her self looking at a dimly lit view of a stone ceiling. _Where am I?_ She struggled to sit up, but found that she was chained to a bed. With that realization came a wave of memories. _Akatsuki! Shit!_ She struggled to get up again, thrashing desperately in the chains that restricted her movement. The chains rattling together must have made quite a racket because shortly after Sakura began her struggle she heard a door creak open. Ceasing her struggle, Sakura strained her eyes in a futile attempt to view her surroundings. She heard footsteps walking toward her.

"If I unchain you, will you promise not to try to attack or escape?" A calm female voice asked.

"No." Sakura replied, hoping her fear wasn't obvious in her voice.

"You don't need to be afraid. We wont hurt you." The woman commented, her voice surprisingly stoic. Sakura could hear the woman walk toward the foot of her bed. She flinched as the woman clasped something cold and metallic around her already bound ankle.

"That's a chakra restraint." The woman explained wile removing the chains that bound Sakura. "Any resistance would be futile." There was a rather awkward silence as the woman continued unlocking and untying Sakura. "You can stand up now."

Sakura quickly sat up, ignoring the dizzy feeling in her head from the sudden movement. She whipped around to face the woman who had untied her. She couldn't help but to blink in surprise. She had expected any woman who worked for Akatsuki to be some ugly whore. This woman was defiantly not that. She had chin length blue hair, part of her hair was held up in a small bun topped with a light blue paper flower. Her eyes were amber with blue eye shadow and she wore a piercing under her bottom lip. Her attire was of black sandals with long white socks, common black ninja pants, and a black T-shirt with netting underneath. The room she was in was dimly lit, and was empty except for a bed, an old lamp, and a closet. What surprised her though was that, like the ceiling, the walls and floor were also stone. _There aren't any windows._

"Come with me, Sakura." The woman directed, walking out the door. "My name is Konan. Were in the Akatsuki main base."

Sakura hopped off the bed and ran to catch up to Konan. Konan led Sakura down a long hall with several doors on each side. All the doors were made of black wood. They walked for a long time in silence. They turned a corner before walking up a long set of stairs. _The halls are also made of stone. There still aren't any windows_.

"Are we underground?" Sakura couldn't help but ask as they reached the top of the stairs and turned another corner. That was one of her most dominate traits. Her demanding need for answers.

"Were inside a mountain." Konan said as they rounded another yet corner.

Sakura was about to ask what the blue haired woman meant but the had reached a large black marble door at the end of the hall. The door was probably double the size of an ordinary door, but other than it's size and material it wasn't to fancy. _I wonder how you open that? It's probably pretty heavy. _Her question went unanswered however, because closer inspection revealed the door was already open a few feet. Before going through the door Konan turned to Sakura.

"Your going to meat the leader of Akatsuki. Address him as Leader or Leader-sama. I don't suggest addressing him as any thing else." Konan advised before turning back around and slipping through the partially open door, beckoning for Sakura to fallow.

The room they entered was rather magnificent. Not exceptionally fancy, just amazing. It was spacious and the floor and walls were stone like the rest of the base she had seen so far, the only difference was that they were smooth and shiny. It reflected the light of a two large red chandeliers that hung in the on either sides of the room. The left side of the room had a set of ten black chairs and a large round table. There were to more black wooden doors in the back of the room. In the right side of the room there was a large black desk against the wall. Konan led Sakura up to the desk. Sitting in the desk was an orange haired man with several piercings decorating his face. His eyes were unnerving. They had a ripple-like pattern around the pupil, with a grayish-purple iris and sclera. _Is that a kekkei genkai? _

"Pain, this is Sakura." Konan greeted the man behind the desk.

_So I guess this is "Leader". Wait, why did she call him "Pain"? She just told me to only call him leader! _Sakura looked at Konan for an explanation but the blue haired woman's expression was unchanged.

"Thank you, Konan." Acknowledged Leader before turning to Sakura. "Sakura, do you know why you're here?"

"Um, D-Deidara said you wanted me t-to join Akatsuki." Sakura stammered. She wanted more than anything to be back at home right now and away from these people.

"That's right. We, Akatsuki, need you Sakura." Leader elaborated. "As you may or may not know, Akatsuki usually has ten members. After Orochimaru left we only had nine. The reason we never replaced Orochimaru is because he kept his ring. You can't be in Akatsuki without a ring. Recently though, and I know you know this, Orochimaru has been killed by Sasuke. After finding out about his death I sent out Zetsu to retrieve Orochimaru's ring. Zetsu returned a few days ago with the ring. You are going to ware this ring on your left little finger, and join Akatsuki." After he finished speaking Leader pulled out a drawer in his desk and removed from it a slate blue ring. Written on the ring was 空, meaning "sky" or "void". Leader leaned forward and handed the ring to Sakura. He sat down again and watched her expectantly waiting for her to put it on.

"I-I'm not joining Akatsuki." Sakura managed to say, voice trembling.

"You don't have a choice." Leader stated in a aloof voice.

"S-some one will come for me. I-I'll be rescued!" She stated defiantly.

"No you wont be. There's no one to rescue. Your not even missing, your just dead." Replied Leader, his voice just as emotionless as before.

"W-what?" Sakura asked, taken aback.

Leader replied by opening another drawer in his desk and removing a newspaper, _Konoha Times, _and leaning forward once again to hand it to Sakura. The pink haired kunoichi gasped as she read the headline. The newspaper article looked like this:

**Young Kunoichi Killed in House Fire!**

Sakura Haruno was killed in around 2:00am yesterday morning when her house caught fire. The cause of the fire is still unknown but evidence of explosion leads to the theory of explosive tag misuse or malfunction. The fire seemed to have started in the kitchen leading to another theory that the fire might have been caused by an appliance malfunction. No one suspects arson. The victim of the tragic accident is none other that the skill Konoha kunoichi Sakura Haruno, apprentice to Hokage Tsunade. The body was burned beyond recognition but there are no doubts that the brave young girl was killed as she slept. The friends of the sixteen year old girl are devastated. Her parents are yet to be informed for they are on vacation and are said to return in a few days…

**Continued on page 36.**

Sakura could only stare. _Every one thinks I'm dead? _The thought left her feeling empty. _I don't exist to them anymore. And oh, poor Naruto! I hope he isn't to sad. Him and Tsunade. I've got to go back! It can't be like this! I belong in Konoha! I need to be with my mom and dad! And Kakashi, Shizune, and the rest of the rookie nine! And Sasuke! What will Sasuke do when he finds out I'm dead? I was supposed to help Naruto save him!_ Sakura could feel tears stinging her eyes. She tried to hold them back and failed. With a choked sob the tears rushed out of her eyes. She cursed her self for crying. Ninja weren't supposed to cry. It was a rule. And here she was showing weakness in front of enemies. She dropped the ring and the news paper, letting them both fall to the ground.

Leader frowned at Konan, who just sighed walking up to Sakura. "There, there, Sakura." Konan murmured to they crying girl, her voice for the first time since Sakura had met her, showing emotion. "We are here for you. Your one of us now." Konan walked up to Sakura and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Sakura flinched away from the older kunoichi's touch and yelled, "It's your guys' fault things are like this to begin with!"

With that Leader stood up from his desk. Konan stepped away from Sakura as the pierced man bent down in front of her and grabbed the pink haired girl's chin lightly in his hand, forcing her to look him in the eyes.

"Sakura Haruno I order you to get a hold of your this very moment." Leader said in a kind yet stern voice. With his free hand he bent down and picked up the ring she dropped. "As of this moment you are part of Akatsuki weather you want to be or not."

He held out his hand. Sakura hesitated for a moment before placing her hand in his. Leader placed the ring on her left pinky and let her hand drop. As he stood up Konan came back to Sakura.

"Thank you Sakura, take this." Konan said, handing Sakura a cloth.

Sakura murmured her thanks then began wiping her tears away.

Leader walked back around his desk and sat down before continuing his speech. "Sakura you are now a member of Akatsuki. You will be treated like all the other members. There will be no special privileges because your new. There aren't many rules except these few: 1 Do as I say, you are my subordinate. 2 Missions are to be carried out quickly and precisely. 3 Do not try and kill other members. 4 Do not give away any of are motives or locations. 5 Do not randomly start a war. Akatsuki members have had quite a bit of free time on there hands since we abandoned the biju chase. We still recive missions from many of the smaller countries, but not as many now that there aren't any wars going on. We usually are a more widespread and busy organization, but now we're all at the main base. Akatsuki rarely gathers together and something like this hasn't happened in years. Since there is such a lag in business there is no need to operate many bases at once or have members floating all over the place. In any case, your free to leave the base whenever, so long as you don't cause any problems. Your goning to be our medic. There will be times, even without as many missions, when a member will be injurred in training or something. Your expected to heal them no matter what. I understand you are also a skilled fighter so expect to be sent on missions as well. Konan will introduce you to all of our members, get you an outfit, and give you a tour of the base." Leader turned to Konan before finishing up. "I think everyone is outside training right now, you might want to get her situated at first."

"Yes sir." Konan replied, her voice stoic once again.

"Do you understand everything Sakura?" Leader asked the now calmer girl.

Sakura looked him straight in the eye and replied. "Yes, but I need _you_ to understand one thing. No matter what you tell me, I will never do two things. I will never hurt an innocent person, and I will never raise a hand against Konoha."

Leader, seemingly unfazed by the comment only said, "One last thing before you go Sakura. You will find that, unlike the rest of the members, Konan and I are hardly ever present. Tomorrow we will be heading back to Amegakure, that's were we spend most of our time."

Sakura nodded her understanding. She was rather annoyed that her previous comment had no affect on him.

"You may go." Leader dismissed.

**To be continued...**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm sorry this chapter took so long to publish, It ended up a lot longer than I expected. A while back I received a review saying they preferred it when Deidara said "Unn" instead of "Yeah". So, now there's a poll on my profile. Please vote on how you would rather Deidara finishes his sentances. I will change all of Deidara's lines in my story to match the results of the poll. Please vote!**

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**Hello, Akatsuki Friends!**

**Chapter 3**

Konan and Sakura were standing in the hall outside of Leader's office.

"I will give you a tour first, we can pick up an outfit for you during then." Konan told Sakura as she started off down the hall. Almost immediately they turned a corner. "The room we were just in is Pains office. It also serves as Akatsuki's meeting room."

_That would explain the big table and all those chairs._Sakura though, thinking back to the spacious stone room.

"The two doors in the back lead to Pain's room and my own room." The blue hared woman informed Sakura as she turned another corner and lead the younger girl down a long flight of stairs.

Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs Konan turned yet another corner before stopping at a black wooden door, located just around the corner they had turned. "This is the bathroom. There is only one."

Sakura blinked and gave Konan an inquiring look upon hearing the ruefulness in her voice.

Noting her look, Konan grimaced and explained. "Having only one bathroom for an organization full of S-ranked criminals causes…umm…problems."

Sakura only stared at the older kunoichi. _A killer organization has problems like THAT? How lame… _Sakura opened the bathroom door and took a look inside. It was surprisingly clean. There was a shower, a sink, and (of course) a toilet, along with other random bathroom things. The bathroom, like Leader's office, had floor, walls, and ceiling of polished stone. The room was brightly lit, illuminating the navy cabinets over both the toilet and the sink. The sink, toilet, and shower were a white porcelain. _Clean? Shiny? Blue and porcelain? And here I was thinking every thing in Akatsuki would be dirty and gross. Not to mention that I figured everything in here would be black and red! _Sakura was about to make a comment about it when she noticed small blue origami flowers decorating the bathroom, strewn here and there. _I guessed Konan cleaned it. Leader said that the two of them were never around. I wonder who cleans it when they're gone?_That last thought left Sakura with a light feeling of foreboding.

"Lets move on." Konan pressed in her calm voice.

They abandoned the bathroom and continued on down the hall. It wasn't long before they encountered a set of stairs diverging from the hall. _Those look awfully steep! I really hope they don't go to far… what a pain. _But to Sakura's mild surprise Konan continued on and bypassed the stairs without so much as slowing down.

"Up there is the training area. That's were all the members are now. We'll go up there later." Explained Konan as she continued down the hall.

The section of the hall they were in now was littered with doors. There were four black wooden doors on each side of the hall. Konan bypassed them all except for the last one on the left.

"This is your room Sakura." Konan elaborated. "But you have already seen it."

Sakura reached out for the doorknob non the less, and opened the door. _Oh, I guess I have seen it before. _It was the same room she had been tied up in just a short while before. _It's quite drab. _She noted, the walls, floor, and ceiling weren't even polished like the that of the bathroom and Leader's office. _I wonder if they'll let me refurbish it? _She closed the door and glanced at Konan.

The blue haired woman took the look as a signal to move on and she started off down the hall once again. They'd hardly gone more than 50 feet before encountering a fork in the hall. One side was another staircase and the other was another hall.

"That stair case leads to outside." Konan said, casting a worried glance at Sakura. "Don't try to escape. We'd simply come after you."

"I've made a deal, I'm here to stay." Murmured the pink haired girl, lightly tapping the ring on her left little finger. _I'm not going to hurt Konoha or anyone, no matter what they do!_

Konan gave a slight nod in understanding before leading her down the other hall. Soon they came to a large room strewn with miscellaneous furniture. In one corner there were two mismatching couches facing each other with a coffee table in between. One couch was blue velvet and ripping at the seams, and the other was red and yellow plaid, and although it was terribly ugly, it was in better shape_. _The coffee table was black wood, similar to the doors of the base, and probably looked good at one point in time, but was now missing a leg. In another corner there was a dull green couch covered in stains facing a small TV that was sitting on the floor. In a third corner there was a large faded red rug and a beaten oak desk. _These people must have something against new furniture. _Next to the desk was a bird cage. The cage itself was surprisingly clean but the bird inside, a grey pigeon, looked slightly malnourished. _I guess they use this for communication. Konan must have cleaned this too._ In the last corner of the room there was a large storage cabinet and a trunk. Both looked as if they were nearing the end of their lifespan. Like the halls and her bedroom, the ceiling walls and floor were of stone that wasn't polished. Despite the fact of the furniture being old and in crappy condition, the room was spotless.

There were two wooden doors at the back of the room and one at the side. Sakura sprinted over to the side door and opened it.

"Wait! Don't open that!" Konan called out, but it was to late.

Piles and piles of miscellaneous crap fell out of the closet and on top of Sakura. All the young girl could do was let out a pathetic yelp as the mountain of junk buried her. For a few seconds nothing happened. Then slowly the pile shuffled. And Sakura stuck her head out, gasping for air.

"Oooh, ouch!" She groaned as she struggled free of the pile.

"S-sorry! It's my fault that happened! I was in a rush to get things clean before you arrived." Konan apologized rather desperately.

"N-no, my fault! Here let me clean up!" Sakura insisted.

The two kunoichi quickly cleaned up the mess, arguing over who's fault it was all the while. After putting every thing back in the closet in a more organized manner, Konan went into the closet and pulled out some clothing from a box in the back.

"This is your uniform. Try it on to make sure it fits." Konan instructed, handing Sakura an Akatsuki cloak, and an outfit matching her own.

Sakura took the clothing and slipped into the closet. _Oh, crap! I've been in my pajamas this whole time. _She couldn't help but to try and picture what she must have looked like while talking to Leader. She frowned, unhappy with the scene her imagination conjured. She pictured herself in her ivory pajamas and sleep-tangled hair, defiantly telling Leader that she would have nothing to do with Akatsuki and him snickering to himself all the while. Sighing she began to undress. After donning the uniform she exited the closet closing the door behind her.

"Does it fit okay?" She asked the older woman.

"Perfectly." Konan said simply, her voice once again emotionless. "There should be a mirror in the closet."

Sakura went back into the closet and pulled out a full length mirror from behind a large stack of boxes. She leaned the mirror against the wall outside the closet and stood in front of it. She couldn't help but frown at the image in the mirror before her. _Akatsuki… I don't want to be a part of this! These are bad people! _The uniform fit her perfectly. The shoes, socks, pants, netted top, and shirt were exactly like Konan's. The black cloak with red clouds contrasted poorly with her pink hair and green eyes. Altogether the attire made her look rather badass.

"Usually members only wear their cloaks during missions." Advised Konan. "You can drop yours off at your room, along with your pajamas, after the tour."

"Okay. What's in those to last rooms?" Sakura inquired, pointing at the to remaining doors.

"The dining room and kitchen." Answered Konan, heading toward the closest door. Sakura hurriedly gathered up her pajamas and removed her cloak. She wrapped them up together and fallowed the blue haired woman through the door.

This room was undoubtedly the dining room. There was a large round table in the center. The table was made of some yellow wood and was covered in stains. One side of the table had a fork and spoon lodged in it. _Whoa, what kind of person can jam a SPOON into wood? _On the other side of the table there was a large chunk of wood missing. _Okay, I'm officially afraid of mealtime. _The chairs around the table were in similar condition, all bashed up. There was another door in this room, probably leading into the kitchen. The walls, ceiling, and floor were the same as the living room. There wasn't anything else in the room besides the table and chairs. _I guess Akatsuki doesn't ever invite anyone over for dinner, or else they would design a more attractive atmosphere for dining. _

Sakura walked around the table and opened the door to the last room. As she guessed it led to the kitchen. The kitchen was very clean. _Probably also Konan's doing. _There was a door leading back to the living room on one side of the room. On the other side there was a row of counters, blue and porcelain like the ones in the bathroom, lining the wall. Above those were matching cabinets. On the wall opposite of her there was a fridge that appeared to be stainless steel. Next to the fridge was a sink, a trash bin, and one of those stove-oven combinations witch was, unlike the fridge, covered in rust spots. On the wall closest to her there was a large white pantry. The walls, ceiling, and floor matched those of the previous room. Unlike most modern day kitchens, this one lacked a microwave and coffee pot.

"That's the whole base." Konan informed. "Lets leave your cloths at your room and we'll go meet the others."

"Okay." Sakura agreed quietly. They left the room and walked through the living room and back into the hall. They rounded a corner and stopped outside her room.

"I'll be right back." Sakura promised before opening her door and stepping into her room. She quickly hung her cloak and pajamas up in her closet, then exited the room and rejoined Konan. They walked in silence past the other rooms. They reached the staircase that diverged from the hall. Sakura eyed the unusually steep steps with a sense of impending physical exertion. They climbed the steps with Konan in the lead. The climb, although long, was not bad at all. Sakura probably had her rigorous training with Tsunade-sama to thank for that. Sakura pushed the thought from her mind in attempt to prevent dwelling on missing her master. They reached the top of the stairs and stepped out into sunlight. _Wow, guess I'm not underground anymore. _She thought as she blinked and rubbed her eyes, trying to become used to the much brighter light of out doors. She wasn't able to do so, however, because almost immediately after she and Konan stepped out of the tunnel Sakura was tackled to the ground by a black and orange blur.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!" Tobi squealed in delight, pinning Sakura to the ground in a tight glomp.

It took the pink haired girl a panicky minute to realize what was going on. She was outside, laying on the grass, looking up at the blue sky, with a S-ranked criminal on top of her. She let out a high pitched scream and struggled futility against Tobi's grip.

"Hey Tobi, get off her. She's freaking out, yeah!" Deidara's voice demanded from somewhere nearby.

"T-Tobi's sorry, Sakura-chan! Tobi's a good boy!" Insisted Tobi, jumping off of her in panic.

Sakura sat up, dazed. "It's okay Tobi, you just caught me off guard." Really she was embarrassed she had reacted in such a way. She looked around, taking in her surroundings. She was sitting in a large meadow. The edges of the meadow were covered in different kinds of plants. It looked somewhat like a garden as well as a training area. There were beautiful flowers and well clipped trees. On one side of the meadow was a steep rock wall that ascended at a near 90° slope. On the other side of the meadow there was another steep rock slope. This fall descendedat a near 90° slope and, unlike the other side, had a waist height brick wall bordering it. In the far end of the meadow Sakura could just see a small waterfall rushing down the upper slope, pooling at the base, and continuing down the lower slope. _Wow! I guess the base really is inside a mountain! _From were she was sitting the young kunoichi could see down the entire side of the mountain and the whole valley beyond. It really was a beautiful sight. Almost beautiful enough to distract her from the crowed of Akatsuki members surrounding her. Almost.

"Leader-sama told us not to treat her inappropriately, Tobi." A voice scolded coldly from behind Sakura. She turned around to find Itachi standing before her. She stood up and dusted herself off, gazing at the group of men surrounding her as she did so. The majority of them wore the same outfit that she now wore, the one identical to Konan's. She recognized most of them, Tobi, Deidara, Itachi, and Kisame, but she didn't know the other three.

"Line up!" Konan ordered the men. They did so with only a few grumbled complaints. When they were all in a line the older kunoichi turned to Sakura, "I know you know some of them already, but I am going to properly introduce you."

Konan pointed to the first man in line, Itachi, and began. "This is Itachi from Konohagakure. He's usually quiet and unemotional. You shouldn't have to much trouble with him." Itachi narrowed his eyes at the comment, but otherwise remained impassive. He looked about the same as when she last saw him, long black hair in a ponytail, serious expression, and ever activated sharingan.

"This is Kisame." Konan said, indicating to the next man in the line. Sakura had met him before. She could never forget the way he so strangely resembled a shark. His skin was pale blue, his teeth were sharp and triangular, he had gills bellow his eyes, and his eyes themselves were small, round, and white. His hair, by breaking some law of gravity, was combed up in a manner resembling a shark fin. "He's from Kirigakure. You'll find he's aggressive and loves to fight. He is one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Mist." Kisame winked at Sakura and flashed her a wide toothy grin.

"Next is Hidan." Introduced Konan, pointing to the man standing next to Kisame. This man seemed familiar to Sakura, but she couldn't place a name. He had slicked back silver hair and purple eyes. Around his neck he wore some kind of emblem, an upside-down triangle inside a circle. "He's from Yugakure. Hidan's the most foulmouthed and disrespectful of everyone here. He's a Jashinist and immortal." Sakura's heart almost stopped. _This is the man who killed Asuma-sensei! _She instinctively took a step back, feeling sick to her stomach.

"What's your f*****g problem?" He demanded, jabbing a finger in Sakura's direction.

"You can't talk that way to a lady!" Tobi intervened, before Sakura could retaliate.

"The hell I can't you little weirdo!" Hidan shouted back at the masked man.

"Nuh-uh! Those are naughty words!" Insisted Tobi, shaking his head.

"I can say whatever the hell I f*****g want, you-"

"That's enough." Konan interrupted, giving both agitated men a stern glance. Tobi happily walked back to his place in line, and Hidan flipped him off.

"Konan-san! Hidan just-"

"I said that's enough! You guys should be trying to make a good impression!" Konan interrupted again, this time angry. This time both men listened obediently.

_She must not get angry very often. _Sakura commented to herself, noticing how both the men hadn't even hesitated to obey her.

"Continuing." Konan said, then pointed to the man standing next to Hidan. "This is Kakuzu, he's from Takigakure. He acts as Akatsuki's treasurer and acts as a bounty hunter when he can. He is incredibly greedy and thinks that money is the most important thing in the world." Kakuzu didn't seem bothered by the comment, but it was kind of hard to tell. He was wearing a white hood and a black mask over his face, with his eyes being the only thing showing. His eyes were unusual in coloring: green irises, no pupils and red sclera.

"Great, another female, woman are too expensive." Complained Kakuzu, demeanor unchanged, "Don't think your going to be allowed to go out and spend a fortune on shoes and makeup."

Sakura rolled her eyes, then remarked sarcastically, "That's a stereo type. I prefer handbags and perfume." She looked at the hooded man for a reaction, and was slightly annoyed when she realized she wouldn't see one due to his mask.

"Just watch your mouth, girl." He said in a annoyed tone. "I'm telling you now we don't do funerals, way to costly."

"Moving on." Konan insisted, stopping Sakura's sarcastic comeback before it could leave her lips. "Next is Tobi, he's a fairly new member. Umm, we're not sure where he's from or why he's even in Akatsuki. He's naïve, innocent, talks in third person, and-."

"And Tobi's a good boy!" Tobi interrupted boastfully.

"Why, yes. Of course." Konan added, patting Tobi on the head, much to his delight.

The blue haired woman pointed to the next man in line, Deidara. _Or you could say the next girl in line. _Sakura thought to her self, holding back a sicker. _Oh, I just know I'm going to LOVE picking on him! He deserves it, he freaking blew up my house! _

"I know you know him, but this Deidara." Konan introduced. "He's from Iwagakure. He likes explosions and thinks that blowing stuff up is art." Deidara looked pretty much the same as the other day, minus the cloak and plus the scowl on his face from Konan's comment.

"Blowing stuff up _is _art, yeah." Deidara retorted. "And it's useful. What are you going to do with paper? Give your enemies a paper cut, yeah? Like that'll-"

Konan gave the girly man an evil glare, silencing him at once.

Sakura couldn't help but giggle. Come on! It was an argument about _bombs_ vs. _paper_! And they were both taking it seriously!

"You think something's funny, pinky, yeah?" demanded the blond.

"Not at all, barbie!" Sakura retorted, desperately trying to hold back her laughter.

Kisame let out an amused snort, obviously taking a liking to Deidara's new nickname, and Konan's jaw dropped slightly, before her mouth tuned to a grin. But those reactions were nothing compared to Hidan's fit of laughter and Deidara's nearly beet red face.

"**Lets get this over with. **Oh, but they're having fun! **Doesn't matter.**" The last man said, ending the laughter.

"Right. This is Zetsu." Agreed Konan, regaining her emotionless demeanor and indicating to the man next to Deidara. Sakura stifled a gasp upon catching sight of the last man in the line. He had a head of shocking green hair and had yellow eyes, but those were defiantly not the strangest things about him. Zetsu was split, right down the middle, between black and white. It could have been paint, but It didn't look smudgy or crusty the way body paint did. It was his actual skin_. What is this man? _

"Zetsu acts as Akatsuki's spy. He works alone so he doesn't have a partner, although he does have a duel personality thing going on. His two halves talk to each other some times." Konan explained, and then added with a smirk. "It can actually be pretty funny, especially when they argue."

Zetsu's black half only stared at Konan while his white half broke out into a wide grin.

"He's also kind of a cannibal. Akatsuki sends him out to eat the bodies we wish to dispose of. Usually he wears a flytrap-like plant attachment, but only when he's on missions." Konan continued.

"**It gets in the way. **I really only need it on missions anyway." Zetsu added in.

Sakura couldn't help but feel uneasy being near the strange man. _He eats people. Don't get yourself alone with him. _

There was a bit of an awkward silence.

"Umm, nice to meet you all…" Sakura said feeling out of place.

"Your all dismissed. You may go back to what you were originally doing. We're done." Konan announced. The line of men broke up and each of them went off to do their own thing. Konan turned back to Sakura. "You will get used to them eventually."

_I'm going to eventually get used to a group a S-ranked criminals. That's nice. There goes my dream of becoming a powerful Konoha medic kunoichi. Instead I get to spend the rest of my days playing doctor for Akatsuki. But that's okay, because I'll get used to it. _

"Pain and I are leaving for Amegakure tomorrow." Konan commented, interrupting Sakura's sarcastic thoughts. "It's your duty from here on out to utilize your skills as a medic ninja to keep these men in one peace. Were counting on you. We've hardly been receiving any mission requests lately, so you'll find you'll have a lot of free time. You can come out here, to the training grounds, when the weathers good. When the weathers bad you can hang out around the base, which is what most of the members do, or you can leave the base or do whatever. But remember, no running away. You can't ever return to Konoha. We couldn't allow you to do that if we wanted to, you know to much." Konan paused and placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Don't worry about anything, Sakura. You'll call them family eventually."

**To be continued…**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello, Akatsuki Friends!**

**Chapter 4**

"Sakura-chan." Someone whispered quietly to her. Sakura ignored the voice and tried to fall back asleep.

"Sakura-chan, wakey, wakey." The voice persisted.

Sakura gave up with a slight groan. She blinked away the sleep and opened her eyes. Her gaze was met with a large orange spiraled mask merely inches away from her own face. Sakura let out a sharp yelp and sat up quickly.

"T-Tobi?" She inquired, realizing who had woken her up.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan!" The masked man exclaimed cheerfully. "Tobi slept good, did you?" He was up on Sakura's bed crouching over her. _He obviously knows nothing of a lady's personal space._

"I slept fine Tobi, thanks. Why did you come wake me up?" She demanded, slightly upset that he had interrupted her slumber.

"It's breakfast time!" Tobi cheered, hopping down from her bed and dancing around the room.

Sakura smiled at him and thought back on what had happened. Akatsuki had captured her. They needed her for her medical expertise. Deidara had blown up her house and every one she had ever known and cared about thought she was dead. She ended up agreeing to stay with Akatsuki on the condition that she wouldn't ever have to hurt Konoha or any innocent person. Konan had given her a tour of Akatsuki's base, a uniform, and had introduced her to all the members. Konan and pain had left for Amegakure shortly afterwards. Sakura was now alone to fend for herself in an organization of deadly criminals. _Okay, maybe things aren't going to be so scary and terrible. _She thought, eying Tobi dancing around the room excitedly in his pair of grey flannel pajamas and white bunny slippers.

"I need to do some morning stuff, Tobi." Sakura said, indicating to the bathroom. "Ill be right out."

"Take your time Sakura-chan! Tobi will wait!" And with that Tobi ran and jumped onto her bead, sitting down cross-legged.

_I'll take a shower after breakfast. _Sakura said to herself, closing the bathroom door. She quickly brushed her hair, did some other things, and was out of the bathroom within a matter of minutes. _I'm not going to bother getting changed. Tobi's in his pajamas so I'll just stay in mine. _

"Come on! Come on, Sakura-chan! Tobi's hungry!" The masked man cried out, grabbing hold of Sakura's wrist and dragging her out of her room. He proceeded to drag her down the hall, through the living room, and into the dining room.

Sakura couldn't help but to feel out of place. Every member was seated around the dining table. They all looked up at her when Tobi dragged her through the door. Tobi, unaware of the awkward atmosphere, continued to pull Sakura after him.

"You can sit next to Tobi, Sakura-chan!" He insisted, finally letting go of her wrist and pulling out a chair for her.

Sakura murmured her thanks and sat down. The instant she sat down, much to her surprise, Tobi lurched the chair forward pushing her up to the table, making her yelp slightly. On her left sat Deidara, who was currently smirking at her. She glared at him for a moment before sticking her tongue out at him, causing his smirk to turn into a grin.

"Umm, good morning…" She said nervously, addressing everyone. They acknowledged her greeting before returning to the awkward silence.

Sakura took advantage of the silence to take in her surroundings. Everyone was in their pajamas and most of them had bed head. Deidara was wearing a pair of grey cotton pants and a black tank top. Itachi had on a black T-shirt and black three quarter length pants. Kisame was dressed in a pair of navy flannel pajamas. Kakuzu was wearing a pair of dark brown cotton pants and baggy grey T-shirt. Zetsu had on a pair of black shorts and a plain white T-shirt. _I guess he's got a color scheme going on. _Sakura couldn't help but noticed that the black half of the plant man's body was practically visible through his shirt. But the fact that she was even looking wierded her own self out before she could get a better look. Set in front of every one was a plate, fork, and knife. Each person had a glass of some beverage or another next to their plate.

Just as she was about to die from an awkward silence overdose when Kisame came to her rescue. Kind of.

"So what's for breakfast?" He asked.

"Fucking pancakes." Hidan answered. That's when Sakura noticed for the first time what the Jashinist was wearing. Not only was he not wearing anything but a pair of plaid boxers, but he also had on a frilly apron that had "Fuck The Cook" written on it.

"You can cook?" Sakura couldn't help but be surprised.

"No, he can't." Itachi answered for Hidan.

"If you don't like my cooking then don't fucking eat it!" Replied Hidan, jabbing a finger at Itachi.

Before further argument could ensue a bell dinged from the kitchen. Hidan quickly stood up and stomped off through the door. He was only gone for a few minutes before coming back through the door carrying a plate stacked high with a tower of the foulest smelling pancakes Sakura had ever encountered. Hidan walked around the table dropping a pancake on everyone's plate before setting down the empty serving platter in the middle of the table. Other than smelling terrible the pancakes seemed normal enough. They weren't burnt or soggy. They were actually a nice golden brown color. But of course, no one had eaten one yet. They were all just sitting there waiting for some one else to take the first bite. Even Tobi had calmed down and adopted a serious demeanor.

"WELL?" Demanded Hidan. "Isn't anyone going to fucking eat?"

Sakura looked around nervously and found that everyone else was doing the same. _Is this seriously a daily thing? _Nobody dared to try the evil smelling pancakes. And so, every so slowly, Sakura picked up her fork and knife. She ignored the gasps coming from the other members and began cutting a bite from the reeking pancake. She looked around nervously at the other members, then quickly put the piece of pancake in her mouth and began to chew. She didn't get very far. The taste was so disgusting it was practically demonic. The pancakes were spicy, sweet, salty, fruity, rich, sour, and any other flavor you can think of. _H-how is it even physically possible to make a pancake like this? _

It was too much. She fell backwards, chair and all, and hit the ground with a loud crash.

The other members were silent for a moment.

"**Well shit Hidan, you killed her.**" Zetsu complained.

At that the other members jump out of there seats and scurried their way over to the fallen kunoichi.

Hidan leaned over Sakura, grinning hysterically.

"Sakura? Are you okay?" Hidan yelled, laughing.

She didn't answer.

"Noooooooo!" Tobi screamed, and proceeded to run around the room screaming, "Not Sakura-chan! Not Sakura-chan!"

The other members were deathly quiet, for a few seconds anyway.

"Sorry, Leader-sama." Itachi said to himself.

"Come, on!" Groaned Kakuzu. "Some one do something! We are _so _not having a funeral, do you even _know _how expensive those are?"

"You MORONS!" Kisame yelled. "She's not even dead yet!"

"She's not!" Deidara confirmed, feeling her pulse. "But she's not responding! Do some thing, yeah!"

"What the fuck are we soposed to do? She's the medic!" Hidan demanded desperately, finally feeling guilty.

"Give her mouth to mouth." Itachi suggested calmly.

The other members only stared at the Uchiha, then Hidan broke into an even larger grin.

"I'll do it!" The Jashinist volunteered much too enthusiastically.

"No you wont, **you rapist.**" Zetsu protested kicking Hidan away from Sakura.

"Who here even knows how do to mouth to mouth properly?" Kisame asked, bringing up an important topic.

The question was followed by silence. Then Deidara, face bright red, slowly raised his hand. The action was followed by yet more silence.

"Well, come on now! Time is money!" Kakuzu encouraged.

Deidara walked over to Sakura and crouched over her, similar to how Tobi was this morning. He looked around nervously before reaching forward and gently opening the pink haired girl's mouth. He slowly reached in and removed the bite of toxic pancake from her gullet. Tossing the radio active food to the side, he inched forward over her and brought his face closer to hers. But suddenly, just as he was about to lock lips with Sakura, his bangs decided to fall forward and cover her face. This normally wouldn't have been a problem to a person, if they did not rely on their facial appendages for breathing. The girl on the floor made a slight choking sound. Deidara froze, then disparately tried to tuck his golden locks behind his ear. Too late. The kunoichi jolted upright, sputtering, and smashed her head right into Deidara's.

"Ow, yeah!" Deidara protested, holding his now sore forehead.

"What the- WHAT WHERE YOU TRYING TO DO?" Demanded Sakura, feeling most violated.

"I was trying to give you mouth to mouth, yeah." Replied Deidara, still on top of Sakura, though not so close now that she was sitting up and raging at him.

"Why the hell would I need mouth to mouth, you gaywad? I wasn't choking!" Sakura demanded.

"But Itachi said-" Deidara broke off, whipping around to glare at Itachi.

The Uchiha only blinked innocently at him.

"So, how did you like my fucking pancakes?" Hidan asked, shoving Deidara off of Sakura and crouching down next to the girl himself.

"What the hell did you put in them?" Sakura yelled, meeting Hidan's grin with a fist.

"Anything in thing I could fucking reach." Hidan answered sarcastically.

Sakura was about to punch Hidan again but Itachi grabbed her wrist, stopping her.

"This happens everyday." Explained Itachi, his tone void of emotion. "Just go get a bowl of cereal."

Sakura looked up at the red eyed man in shock. "You guys- Hidan cooks like this every day? And you guys eat it, then eat normal food?"

"He only does it for breakfast, thank god, yeah." Deidara informed while walking past Sakura and into the kitchen. Sakura glared at him as he walked by, still not forgiving him for invading her personal space. The blond was fallowed into the kitchen by all the other members, save Itachi and Hidan, as they went about they're daily morning routine.

"We don't actually eat the food." Itachi continued explaining to Sakura, his voice stoic. "I was surprised you did."

Sakura scowled at her own foolishness. "I didn't want to offend him. I didn't think it was a trick."

"It was no fucking trick!" Bellowed Hidan. "I just fucking love to cook!"

Sakura just blinked at the man, before turning around and fallowing the rest of Akatsuki into the kitchen.

**To be continued...**


	5. Chapter 5

**Eeeeep! Please don't kill me! Really, sorry for posting two short chapters in a row, but it was eather write one thats fairly short and post it now or continue writing and post one twice as long a whole month from now. I decided on the former, especially sense I'm a _really _slow writer. That and It's been a _really _long time sense I last updated. So, anyway, sorry for the shortness and lateness! Please enjoy and review! What really gave me my motavation was reading over the reviews people sent me, they really make me feel good, even if they're short!**

**Hello, Akatsuki Friends!**

**Chapter 5**

All the members of Akatsuki were sitting around the table munching on their cereal, conversing about random ninja things. Sakura sat quietly, slowly nomming on her own cereal, trying to take things in. She was now a member of Akatsuki. The people she would have to live with from now on were S-ranked criminals, _weird_ S-ranked criminals.

Sakura glanced into Kisame's cereal bowl.

The blue man noticed and asked with a full mouth, "What are you doing?"

"Your eating normal cereal…" She commented rather surprised.

"Yeah…" He was looking at her as if she was crazy.

"Well, I was expecting, like, raw fish and stuff to be floating in there." She said, feeling ridiculous.

Kisame stared at her for a moment, before he started chuckling.

At first she was rather taken aback. _Isn't he offended? _Then she joined his laughter with a couple nervous and forced giggles. _Despite the way he looks, Kisame seems the most normal out of all of them. Maybe I can ask him…?_

"Umm… Kisame?" Sakura began nervously.

"Mmph?" The blue man answered while cramming another spoon full of cereal into his mouth.

"Well… I was looking around my room last night…" She looked up at him guiltily. _I feel wrong about asking for stuff when I'm hardly even a member! I don't even want to be here!_

Kisame made a loud gulp as he swallowed the last of his mouth full and lowered his gaze curiously to the young kunoichi.

"You see… I didn't exactly have time to pack the day I was kidnapped." She retreated her eyes back down to her breakfast before continuing. "There are kind of a few things that are a necessity for a person to have. Like shampoo and a hairbrush. Or-"

"More than one pair of underwear." Kisame finished for her, a giant shark-like grin breaking across his face. "I understand, Pinky."

Sakura stared up at the man, stunned, a violent red blush staining her cheeks.

"You can go shopping today if you like." He said chuckling.

"Cha!" _Shopping! _Sakura cheered to herself.

But at that exact moment, just after her exclamation of joy, a sudden crash caught the attention of every one at the table. Sakura whipped her head around as did everyone else. Her sight fell upon a horror-struck Kakuzu. He was staring right at her, his eyes wide in alarm. He had dropped his cup of morning coffee, causing the noise. There was an awkward silence as he continued to stare at her, and everyone else at him. Then he slowly began to speak.

"Female-…Shopping-…Money-…!" He squeaked out without moving an inch.

"Can I come, yeah?" Asked Deidara, his hand shooting up to match his eager expression.

After breakfast everyone left their dishes at the table and simply walked off to do their own thing. _Great! I guess Konan was the only the only one who did actually clean up around here. _Sakura was just about to grab everyone's dishes when Deidara came up to her grabbing her wrist.

"Lets go, yeah!" Deidara said excitedly, dragging Sakura out of the dining room and through the living room.

"Deidara! I've got to shower and do my hair!" She exclaimed.

"You can borrow my hairbrush and some of my shampoo, yeah." He said dragging her down the hall and into his room. He left me in the doorway and disappeared into a closet.

His room was roughly the same size as mine, only a lot more homey looking. The floor and ceiling were of the same stone and it was also lacking windows. In one corner there was a small bed with a grey wooden frame and wrinkled red bed sheets. In another corner there was a full length mirror that matched the bed. Opposite of the bed there was a double door closet that also matched the bed. _My, my. How coordinated! _his room however was not as tidy as the rest of the house. His bed was unmade, he had his cloak haphazardly draped over his mirror, and there were miscellaneous scorch marks everywhere. The lamp sitting on a nightstand next to his bed was missing half of it's already scorched shade, probably due to some kind of explosion.

Deidara quickly emerged from his closet with two rather large bottles or hair care product and a hair brush.

"Hurry up and get ready, and let me know when your done, I need to shower too, yeah." He said smiling and handing her the soaps.

"Okay…Thanks…" She couldn't help but to smirk at the girly man as she left his room. _These people are actually being nice to me, this is so weird. I thought all of these guys were soposed to be death hungry killers!_

Sakura walked down the hall, soap and brush in hand. She came to a stop at the bathroom door and knocked a few times, just to make sure it wasn't occupied. There was no response so she opened the door and walked in. The bathroom was still sparkly clean like the day before. _How sad to think that I'll probably be the one to clean up after these men every time Konan's not around. _She pushed aside the blue shower curtain, placed the soap on a shelf, and started the water. After closing the curtain she stripped as the water heated up. It felt strangely wrong to be naked in a residence full of men. Criminal men. Sakura quickly drew aside the curtain again and hopped into the shower. _I'm gonna get this over with as fast as I can! _But, unpredictably, the second the hot water touched her skin, she began to feel looser and more relaxed. She sighed and let her mind drift of to thoughts that she'd pushed away earlier.

Sakura had often heard a shower after a stressful situation being described as "washing one's worries down the drain". More realistically though, it was more like "washing away the dirt one used to cover up their worries so that they can cry about them while no one else is looking." In the quiet comfort and solitude of the shower Sakura was finally alone where no one could see her. She could feel the impact of what had happened begin to hurt her, and the shock of realization hit.

She would never be able to go home, Pain had promised that. She would never be able to see Naruto, Tsunade, or Kakashi. She would never laugh as Yamato threatened her bickering teammates. She would never get to train and hang out with her friends again. She would never become a Konoha jounin. She would never buy a house and live on her own. She would never be able to help Naruto find Sasuke. She would never get to teach Sai about what it means to really feel happy. She would never be able to taunt Ino, calling her pig. She would never see Kakashi reading porn instead of training. She would never get to grow up with her friends and family. She would never see Naruto become Hokage. She would never see her parents again. She would never… She would never… She would never…

Hot tears spilled down Sakura's cheeks mixing with the shower water. She no longer cared that a ninja wasn't soposed to cry. Her life was over. She would never get to go back. Every other little thing she had ever cared about seemed so insignificant now. Being bullied, fantasizing about Sasuke, and feeling powerless, it all seemed so juvenile. Now she was chained to a life of killing and torture. The-

A loud banging on the bathroom door interrupted Sakura's morbid thoughts and dragged her mind back to her current location, a shower that was sure to turn cold shortly.

"What the fuck is taking you so long! I'm gonna fucking piss my pants!" Hidan yelled loudly from the other side of the door.

_Oh yeah, there's only one bathroom! Heh, oops. _"Sorry!" Sakura yelled pushing her depressing thoughts away. "I'm almost done, I'll be right out!"

"Just hurry the fuck up!" Hidan grumbled, but she could hear his voice growing fainter as he walked away.

As quickly as she could, Sakura shampooed and rinsed, then conditioned and rinsed her hair. She scrubbed herself clean and shut of the water. After pulling back the curtain she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. As she began to get dressed she noted a multitude of voices coming from outside the door.

"I'm just gonna fucking piss on the floor!"

"That's disgusting, yeah!"

"Tobi _really _has to pee!"

"Shut up! I'm gonna shower first!"

"Fools, I'm showering first."

"**I need to brush my teeth… **No I don't! **Yes I do!"**

"She's wasting so much water…!"

Sakura threw the door open and was mortified to see everyone crowded around.

"Uh… Sorry-" She began, desperately trying to justify her lengthy shower.

"It's about fucking time!" Hidan interrupted, shoving past Sakura and slamming the door behind him.

"Sakura-chan's all clean!" Tobi squealed excitedly, running up and glomping Sakura. "Ooooo! Sakura-chan smells just like Deidara-sempei! Tobi smells pretty flowers!"

"Let go of her, yeah! She needs to dry her hair before we go." He turned to Sakura and gave her a smile. "You can borrow my hairdryer, yeah."

"Okay, thanks…" _He is really weirding me out. Why is he being so nice? Something is off, way off. Deidara couldn't have become an S-ranked criminal by lending people his hair care supplies. He's up to something I know it! _Sakura couldn't help the slight feeling of panic rising in her chest as he once again led her to his room.

For the second time today Sakura waited in the doorway of Deidara's room as he disappeared into his closet. He pulled back out of his closet moments later wielding a small black hairdryer.

"It's battery powered." The blond informed, handing Sakura the device. "I take it in missions and stuff, yeah."

At that comment Sakura would have made a remark questioning his sexuality if there wasn't a more pressing concern on her mind.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" She demanded, narrowing her gaze at Deidara.

The man gave her a confused look. "What?"

"Look, Deidara." The pink haired girl demanded, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Drop the act. It's not making the cut and I'm not stupid. I know that a person does not become a member of Akatsuki by playing hairdresser. What's going on?"

The smile dropped off his face as he turned his head away from the suspicious kunoichi. "You caught me, yeah." Sighing he turned back toward the young girl. "I took it upon myself to make you feel more at home, yeah."

"Why?" She asked sternly, still glaring.

"Because I kind of know how you feel, yeah." He said quietly, shifting his gaze to the floor. "At first, I didn't want to be here either."

Now it was Sakura's turn to be confused. "You…Why…?"

"Why am I here?" He asked for her. "You could say I lost a bet, yeah. I just figured you deserved to feel a bit more welcome than I was."

Sakura was seriously taken aback. _I feel like a bitch… _"I-I'm sorry…"

"Don't be, yeah." Deidara gave her a small smile and offered her the hairdryer again.

Sakura took the tool and turned to leave.

"Deidara," She murmured hesitantly before he closed his door. "Thank you." She gave him her own small smile before disappearing down the hall.

**To Be Continued…**


End file.
